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This
paper
critically
reviews the
World Bank's
treatment
analysis of
the East Asian
miracle. The
Bank considers
the Northeast
Asian
experience so
extraordinary
that other
developing
countries
should not try
to emulate
Japan, South
Korea and
Taiwan,
especially its
industrial
policy.
Rather, the
Bank claims
that Southeast
Asia achieved
its miracle by
liberalizing
its economies
from the
mid-1980s.
Instead, this
paper argues
that the
Bank's
portrayal of
Southeast Asia
is misleading,
that Southeast
Asia's
achievement is
considerably
more modest
than Northeast
Asia's, and
that economic
liberalization
has often
undermined the
state
capacities and
capabilities
necessary for
developmental
states.
The paper then
goes on to
critically
review the
evidence on
the adverse
consequences
of economic
liberalization
in Sub Saharan
Africa, very
often due to
conditionalities
associated
with
structural
adjustment
programs of
the World Bank
and other
international
financial
institutions.
It argues that
it will be
crucial to
enhance state
capacities and
capabilities
for Sub
Saharan Africa
to achieve
more rapid
economic
growth and
development.
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